The Vedas glorify our planet earth, as the most important planet in the cosmic system. She is celebrated for her infinite variegatedness in every aspect of her existence. She is the bearer and indispensable ground for sacrifices; the shelter for divine and human activities; the universal mother, feeding all with many beneficial things, and the one to whom every living being owes his existence. Man, in seeking to satisfy his needs and fulfill his goals, exerts his influence upon subtle elementary forces and gross fundamental powers. All material variations that exist on this planet are transformations of this earth. According to Vedas, a fractional portion of the total cosmic energy is the individual lording identification (the tendency to want to control and exploit material nature). A portion of that ego is the vibration of sound, and a portion of that sound is atmospheric air. A portion of the airy atmosphere is turned into forms, and the forms constitute the power of electricity, or heat. Heat produces, smell, or aroma, which evolves into this gross earth. All these combine together and, governed by the law of intercooperation, constitutes the cosmic phenomenon.

Thus, the whole process of creation is an act of gradual evolution and development of one element to another. This results in the variegatedness of the earth: so many trees, plants, mountains, rivers, reptiles, birds, animals and varieties of human beings. The human form has the best design for interacting with matter, namely a perfect basis for sense perception. The quality of sense perception is also evolutionary, being generated from sound to touch to form to taste and smell. The different varieties of human bodies have similarly more progressive sense perceptions and powers of movement.

There are varieties of human life on this same earth, not accessible to us, sometimes on the same dimension, but mostly on higher dimensions. There are also human living beings on other planets, some in our dimension, many in higher.

Other planets in the higher planetary systems have not only different kinds of human beings, but also animals and plants. Some of these planets have lands made of precious jewels like emeralds. Geologists, botanists and so-called scientists speculate so much about life on this earth itself, but, unable to estimate the varieties of life both here and on the other planets, they falsely imagine that all other planets are vacant, uninhabited and full of dust. The Vedas make fun of such materialistic leaders who are praised by paid men who have the mentality of hogs, dogs, camels and asses. Such people, who simply accept knowledge imparted by big animals, will totally reject the UFO/ET phenomenon as null and void.

This subject about different kinds of living beings and their area of activity, etc, will be further discussed in our Workshop.

The Vedas say, “manujah nivasah”, humanity is the residence of the Supreme. But in this material existence there is always the idea of lording it over the resources of material nature, which creates a clash between different living beings. There is, however, the universal law that brings about order out of chaos and creates harmony.

In the vedic vision, man is an active part of the cosmic whole. Dynamic as he is, he does become a disturbing factor, but once guided towards perfection, he can play a vital role in the ultimate establishment of the supreme law in the manifested world.

The panorama of the world shows a conflict and a tension between polar opposite qualities, for which humans have always been the via medium. But there is also a movement in togetherness and a cooperation. There is a striving towards the light, towards unfolding the potential towards fuller life which is constitutional.

The divine law of the cosmos becomes, at the human level, particularized into specific regulations. Thus are developed those norms of social order which are meant to bring the best results for all concerned. Therefore is born civilization. The Vedas envision duty or “Dharma”, and function, or “Karma”. The cosmic order that brings about harmony is expressed in the aspect of qualities of duty such as mercy, austerity, truthfulness and cleanliness. There are reflected in the aspect of function as abstinence from meat-eating, intoxication, gambling and illicit sex.

By losing sight of that integration of human at peace with himself and the universe, gathering all faculties and powers in one central point from which to act in full, perfected consciousness, the self-centered humanity has only applied for dangerous disasters for our planet.

The activities of the physical world have their effect in their counterparts in the non-physical and especially subtle areas like the astral, ethereal, mental and vice versa.

Whimsical exploitation of the plant and animal kingdoms, and natural resources, over-indulgence in sense-gratification in all kinds of perverted ways — all these have led the humam today to the criminal stand: the whole cosmic order is getting disturbed by our foolish endeavors to be the lords of all we survey. As a result of our crimes, Nature imposes upon us incurable diseases and frequent wars among nations.

That’s why our neighbors have started interfering with our lives. It is so that they can give us the message “Get back on track, man! Save the earth—Now!”

Some of these aliens have also taken it on themselves to establish proper law and order on our area of the planet. It is the history in the Vedas, that people of lower order cheaply endeavor to copy the higher, in spite of opposition and imperfections. This is part of the law governing their Psyche. They have gone do far that, in case we destroy the population on earth, they are making plans to repopulate the earth with good human beings. However, they themselves are a little bit overlording in this respect, because they are trying to accomplish this by harvesting samples of human sperm cells, ova and other vial fluids. This will further be discussed in our Workshop.

The subject of UFO, in many aspects, as far as the experience of many respectable common people, yogis and ascetics of India is concerned, is IFO. Identified, not unidentified. Even today, there are hundreds of ongoing visitations, channelled healings, various kinds of what the modern scientist will term “paranormal phenomena”.

There is a great deal of information in the ancient Vedic texts on paranormal phenomena. Then 19th Century scholars, especially from colonial backgrounds, have always tried to explain every vedic conception as based on an observable natural phenomenon, or on a particular sensory object. Whatever did not conform to their understanding was rejected as “mythology”, or “folklore”.

Another widespread tendency is to read into the Vedas esoteric implications based upon later usage of definite terms; yet another tendency is to interpret the descriptions symbolically and try to discern some indirect significance by means of sheer speculation and philosophical gymnastics. If one could scientifically take information from the vedic literature, a lot of questions confronting us in the research of UFO/ET phenomenon can be answered.

An attempt in this direction is successfully accomplished by my friend Dr. Richard Thompson in his book “Alien Identities”, copies of which will be available at our booth and Workshop.

Representing an age-old tradition of the east, on behalf of the great seers and saints of the Vedic culture, we hereby appeal to the leading nation of the perceivable world on this planet, viz, the USA, to cast aside all doubts, sentimentality and suppression of truth and to begin now to scientifically research and study this undismissible UFO/ET phenomenon and make progress in the field of higher dimensional science. May peace and prosperity be with you. Om Tat Sat.

“Paul Brunton found that the Maharshi’s way of helping others was by an unobtrusive, silent and steady outpouring of healing vibrations into troubled souls, a mysterious telepathic process for which science will one day be required to account.”

All those who seriously ponder upon the question “Who am I?” have invariably heard of Shri Ramana Maharshi. The unassuming spiritual master, who propounded one of the most simplest theories of knowing the self. The method of self-enquiry.

“He simply puts forward a way of self-analysis, which can be practised irrespective of any ancient or modern theories and beliefs which one may hold, a way that will finally lead man to true self-understanding.” – says an ardent follower.

Here is a conversation between Ramana and a seeker, where Ramana establishes that God, Guru and Grace are one and the same thing, They are all the single quintessence found dwelling deep within the seeker’s own heart.

M.: God, Grace and Guru are all synonymous and also eternal and immanent. Is not the Self already within? Is it for the Guru to bestow It by his look? If a Guru thinks so, he does not deserve the name.

The books say that there are so many kinds of initiations – by hand, by touch, by eyes and by mind. They also say that the Guru makes some rites with fire, water, japa, mantras, etc., and call such fantastic performances Initiation, as if the disciple becomes ripe only after such processes are gone through by the Guru.

If the individual is sought he is nowhere to be found. Such is the Guru. Such is Dakshinamurti. What did he do? He was silent; the disciples appeared before him. He maintained silence; the doubts of the disciples were dispelled, which means that they lost their individual identities. That is wisdom and not all the verbiage usually associated with it.

Silence is the most potent form of work. However vast and emphatic the scripttures may be, they fail in their effect. The Guru is quiet and peace prevails in all. His silence is vaster and more emphatic than all the scriptures put together. These questions arise because of the feeling, that having been here so long, heard so much, exerted so hard, one has not gained anything. The work proceeding within is not apparent. In fact the Guru is always within you.

D.: Does Bhagavan give initiation?

M.: Silence is the best and the most potent Initiation. That was practiced by Sri Dakshinamurti. Touch, look, etc., are all of a lower order. Silence changes the hearts of all. There is no Guru and no disciple. The ignorant confounds his body with the Self and so he takes the other’s body for the Guru. But does the Guru think his body to be the Self? He has transcended the body. There are no differences for Him. So the ignorant cannot appreciate the standpoint of Guru and of disciple.

D.: Vivekananda has also said that silence is the loudest form of prayer.

M.: It is so, for the seeker’s silence Guru’s silence is the loudest instruction. It is also Grace in its highest form. All other initiations, e.g., touch, look are derived from silence. They are therefore secondary. Silence is the primary form. If the Guru is silent the seeker’s mind gets purified by itself.

Later, a passage from the Yoga Vasishtha was read out before Sri Bhagavan, indicating initiation by look and initiation by touch.

Sri Bhagavan observed: Dakshinamurti observed silence when the disciples approached Him. That is the highest form of initiation. It includes the other forms. There must be subject-object relationship established in the other initiation. First the subject must emanate and then the object. Unless these two are there how is the one to look at the other or touch him? Initiation by silence is the most perfect; it comprises looking, touching and teaching. It will purify the individual in every way and establish him in the Reality.

M.: “No. He must be competent and initiated in such mantras.” Maharshi illustrated this by the following story: A King visited his Premier in his residence. There he was told that the Premier was engaged in repetition of sacred syllables. The King waited for him and, on meeting him, asked what the words were. The Premier said that it was the holiest of all, Gayatri. The King desired to be initiated by the Premier. But the Premier confessed his inability to initiate him. Therefore the King learned it from someone else, and meeting the Minister later he repeated the Gayatri and wanted to know if it was right. The Minister said that the mantra was correct, but it was not proper for him to say it. When pressed for an explanation, the Minister called to a page close by and ordered him to take hold of the King. The order was not obeyed. The order was often repeated, and still not obeyed. The King flew into a rage and ordered the same man to hold the Minister, and it was immediately done. The Minister laughed and said that the incident was the explanation required by the King. “How?” asked the King. The Minister replied, “The order was the same and the executor also, but the authority was different. When I ordered, the effect was nil, whereas, when you ordered, there was immediate effect. Similarly with mantras.”

Mr. MacIver had an interview with Sri Bhagavan and spoke about initiation.

Sri Bhagavan asked: What is this initiation? After a pause, He continued, “Initiation is of various kinds, by word, by sight, by touch and so forth.”

D.: Bhagavan’s is silent initiation, is it not?

M.: Yes, this the highest form of initiation.

D.: Is it applicable to the path of enquiry only?

M.: All the different paths are included in the path of enquiry.

After a pause Sri Bhagavan spoke to the effect that people who come here are brought by some mysterious Power which will look to their needs. The conversation practically ended with this.

D. How is the Guru found?

M. God, who is immanent, in His grace takes pity on the loving devotee and manifests Himself according to the devotee’s development. The devotee thinks that He is a man and expects a relationship as between two physical bodies. But the Guru, who is God or the Self incarnate, works from within, helps the man to see the error of his ways and guides him in the right path until he realizes the Self within.

D. What should the devotee do then?

M. He has only to act up to the words of the Master and work within. The Master is both ‘within’ and ‘without’, so He creates conditions to drive you inward and at the same time prepares the ‘interior’ to drag you to the Centre. Thus He gives a push from ‘without’ and exerts a pull from ‘within’, so that you may be fixed at the Centre.

D. What is guru’s grace? How does it lead to Self-realization?

M. Guru is the Self…. Sometimes in his life a man becomes dissatisfied with it, and, not content with what he has, he seeks the satisfaction of his desires, through prayer to God etc. His mind is gradually purified until he longs to know God, more to obtain His grace than to satisfy his worldly desires. Then, God’s grace begins to manifest. God takes the form of a guru and appears to the devotee, teaches him the Truth and, moreover, purifies his mind by association. The devotee’s mind gains strength and is then able to turn inward. By meditation it is further purified and it remains still without the least ripple. That calm expanse is the Self.

The Guru is both ‘external’ and ‘internal’. From the ‘exterior’ he gives a push to the mind to turn inward; from the ‘interior’ He pulls the mind towards the Self and helps in the quieting of the mind. That is guru’s grace. There is no difference between God, Guru and the Self.

You think that the world can be conquered by your own efforts. When you are frustrated externally and are driven inwards, you feel ‘Oh! There is a Power higher than man!’

The ego is like a very powerful elephant which cannot be brought under control by any less powerful than a lion, which, in this instance, is no other than the Guru, Whose very look makes the elephant-like ego tremble and die.

You will know in due course that your glory lies where you cease to exist. In order to gain that State, you should surrender yourself. Then the Master sees that you are in a fit state to receive guidance, and He guides you.

D. How can I obtain Grace?

M. Grace is the Self. That also is not to be acquired: you only need to know that it exists.

The sun is brightness only. It does not see darkness. Yet you speak of darkness fleeing on the sun’s approach. So also the devotee’s ignorance, like the phantom of darkness vanishes at the look of the Guru. You are surrounded by sunlight; yet if you would see the sun, you must turn in its direction and look at it. So also Grace is found by the proper approach you make, though it is here and now.

D. Cannot Grace hasten ripeness in the seeker?

M. Leave it all to the Master. Surrender to Him without reserve.

One of two things must be done : either surrender yourself, because you realize your inability and need a higher power to help you; or investigate into the cause of misery, go into the Source and so merge in the Self. Either way, you will be free from misery. God or Guru never forsakes the devotee who has surrendered himself.

The main type of instruction given by Ramana Maharshi was silence, as it was with Dakshinamurthy of old. Divine bliss permeated those who sat around him. In this silence the doubts of his devotees were cleared and their questions were either answered or faded away, ceasing to exist. This silence was, and is, a dynamic force, eternal and universal in nature.

When you think of Hinduism or traditional Indian culture, the concept of a Guru (the spiritual master), is more indispensable and more quintessential than the concept of God. The proverbial haiku by Saint Kabir ” Guru Govind dono khade kaa ke laagu paaye. Balihari Guru aapki, Govind diyo bataye” which translates to “Whilst in the dichotomy of the Guru (the spiritual master) and Govind (God) appearing simultaneously in front of me(kabir, the spiritual aspirant), at whose feet do I offer my obeisance first? I (kabir) choose to first bow to my Guru, as only through my Guru could I have realized God”. This is perhaps the most commonly accepted testimony to the necessity of a spiritual master.

Then again, a Guru who could churn out a disciple like Kabir, must have been some guru indeed. For, Kabir is considered to be a realized soul, yet he did not become a sadhu, nor did he ever abandon worldly life. Kabir, chose instead to live the balanced life of a householder and mystic, a tradesman and contemplative. This was something rare in those days, when abandoning the world, to vanish in a secluded cave in the Himalayas at the drop of a hat, was a precondition to most spiritual quests.

Having the right Guru is like being a son to a billionaire. We start of with a lot of bank balance. But ultimately, it is upon us to invest these funds judiciously. If I am a wastrel, even under the tutelage of the best of Gurus, the spiritual quest is destined to fail. Now, if a Guru is not apt, and has some selfish motives, the disciple is knocking on the wrong door already.

On the other hand, If we do not find or stumble upon a Guru to guide us, by the analogy, one is a pauper by birth. But that by no means no judgement to whether one can become a billionaire or not. It all boils down to our own belief and tenacity for a cause. Transcending belief are love and compassion for a cause.

Most religions proclaim that God is within oneself. If God is in everyone of us, it should be more than evident, that our spiritual quest must begin by loving ourselves, accepting ourselves and the conditions as “we see them to be” to be the conditions that God himself is living in. Only then can we begin to see beyond the faux pas in others, and see the good in them. A person, powered by love, is a person powered by relentless belief. If we love and believe, we can learn from everyone and everything. Life itself becomes the greatest spiritual master.

I see some of my friends conduct acts of kindness, when I look at them, I am inspired and they are then my Gurus. In India we do not have to go far actually, to find Gurus. An average Indian woman, assumes the role of a mother, sister, wife, homemaker and bread-earner flawlessly. She is indeed the very embodiment of the divine Universal energy, seamlessly donning multiple hats. No one can be a better Guru on time management, humility, selfless service and compassion, than her.

Then do we need to seek a smart orator, in ochre robes, who sits on a high chair and siphons money out of unwary devotees on the premise of some divine communion? I see my daughter, 1.5 years old, who without a moments hesitation feeds me a morsel of the bread that I give her to eat. That is unconditional love there. What does she know, if I am going to be a good father or not, if I am a worthy individual to be with or not. She just performs this innocuous act out of pure love. There is no judgement here. She is my guru!

To have a Guru or Not is never the question. If we truly believe, then spirituality, Guru, religion, love, life and God will all happen.

Disease is the final distraction of a human beings life. It is the collaborative expression of physiological and psychological distractions accumulated over a period of time. The process of accumulation of distractions happens wittingly or unwittingly and in most cases, inevitably.

With age, the most powerful organ, the human brain, actually becomes more stronger, contrary to the popular notion. It then becomes more decisive and capable to fight distractions. However, for most of us by the time this empowerment takes place, the accumulation of innumerable distractions attains considerable solidarity, enough to defy most resistance by the human brain, rendering the individual susceptible to diseases.

Today, stress has been termed as the biggest contributor towards diseases. It is very important to understand stress and its nature to be able to work towards successful prevention, reduction or elimination of stress. Stress cannot be isolated as an individual cause. It is a process, like weaving, conflicts of various amplitudes and various types are its threads.

The energy (work done over a period of time, thus inclusive of the time spent) consumed in processing the conflicts, results in its dissipation into various channels, and not into a single original intention. The mental projection of this unavailability of energy for the original cause, is called distraction. Prolonged distraction triggers a counter-measure in the human body. In this attempt the human mind tries to demand back the divided energies back into a single channel, very rapidly, ironically, consuming more energy than planned. The psychological projection of this attempt is called ‘anger’. Anger, only does half the job. It manages to break the threads, however, it does not re-channelize the energy back to the mainline. It is a more dissipative mode of energizing.

I realized that in the previous post I mentioned “thirst for knowledge”. The term knowledge can be misleading. By knowledge, I certainly do not imply ‘information’. What most of us inevitably possess at a certain age, or acquire by a certain age, is just information. There is really nothing to invent but only to discover. Everything has been tried and done before. The way of this era, the ‘kaliyuga’, is to manifest into instruments of destruction and catalysts of entropy.

Prof. Russell Ackoff theorizes the difference between data, information, knowledge, understanding and wisdom. This is a very useful concept for understanding how ‘systems thinking’ works.

I was somehow aware of this difference inherently, I am sure most of us are, we just do not put it as glibly, in our minds. Although, Ackoff’s theory may offer an insight into understanding the human mind, it needs a deeper probing.

For example, intent, instinct, awareness are more primitive and built in faculties of the human being.

Even before we start breathing, or develop the corporeal form to be able to breathe, there was an intent to “be” to exist. It is understanding this intent or ‘sankalp’ behind everything, that is knowledge.

don’t hate them for what they are, because we don’t really know what they

teach.

Forget the people who represent them verbally or textually. When people start re-presenting

a religion, they corrupt it. Religions do not need to be understood. There is nothing to understand.

If a man was designed to be content with what he had, he would be content with one religion

too!

To the core they all (religions as we know today) create boundaries, they promote

separation, calling it a search for ‘something’ that is not given by the

existing.

So what is that something and how it should be searched or achieved, by whatever means (prayers, devotion, non action, zen, knowledge, intuition, yoga and all that).

Before we address the question of what is that something. We need to understand what is meant by ‘existing’. What exists and what does not?

In the end the only religion is knowing our self. Any and all religions are powerful tools for self discovery. Any other definition of religion is just plain escapism, blatant denial of the truth. A religion can be shed off, adopted and used.

All religions are fighting the predominant boundaries which have been suffocating the world,

annexing and expanding under the pretext of religion. It is inevitable, wars are inevitable. This is a bigger system plan. The system of selfs.

Diverse selfs, diverging as long as the universe and creation diverges, galaxies,

universes, men, ants, plants, planets all being spewed and spawned. Which is why

diversity will remain, wars from cellular level to universal level will happen. In Hinduism, we believe that creation itself was born out of conflict, or ‘dvandva’ or dualism.

It is a profound concept that merits years of debate or understood instantly if one wishes to.

But what is more fascinating is the idea that dualism was born out of non-dualism and shall merge into non-dualism. When we connect to the current driving all this, we are indifferent.